Coping With the Little Things (Film Z)
by KikkoPirate
Summary: Life is short, but no one needs to tell that to this skeleton. Brook is feeling a little anxious after their run in with Z and the thought of almost losing his most precious nakama. However, sitting on the sea train with a small reminder in your lap doesn't exactly ease the mind. BrookxOC friendship because well, I'm a dork and have one and like to put her in my stories. O3o


Ker-chunk! Chook! Screeeeeeeech! Brook looked up as the train whirred to a stop, the sound of the breaks still ringing in his ears, or at least they would have if he had any. This was their third time stopping. Something about violent riptides due to dramatic rises in temperature in the water, or at least that's what the man on the monitor, who Brook assumed was the conductor, kept apologizing for. He couldn't help but wonder if these irregular standstills had something to do with that Z guy who attacked them earlier. He quickly dismissed the thought and tuned out the man's voice until it was nothing but a faint murmur, promptly searching the train for something to distract his mind. The sound of laughter caught his attention and Brook smiled as his eyes were drawn to the smallest members of the crew. Ever since twelve years had been deducted from their age, both Nami and Chopper seemed to be brimming with energy, chasing each other up and down the aisles of the train or looking out the window, amazed by the simplest stretch of land and ocean.

His grin slowly faded. _So why wasn't she? _Brook returned his gaze down to Dorothy who was fast asleep in his lap, her head slightly slumped to one side as she rested comfortably against his ribcage.

A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. "Asleep?" Robin asked from the opposite seat facing them.

"Hai, she conked out as soon as we boarded." He answered, never taking his eyes off the small child as he gently removed a few strands of stray hair from her eyes. "I just hope nothing's wrong."

Robin leaned just a tad bit forward to get a closer look of the girl before allowing a soft smile to grace her lips. "No worries, Brook. Children generally tend to use up their energy at a faster rate than adults. She's just tired from her fight."

He looked up, flashing her a gracious grin before returning his attention to the sleepy child. "I was so scared," Brook began after a long period of silence, seeming to hold Dorothy just a little closer to his chest.

"Scared?"

He nodded. "I don't think I could stand to burry yet another nakama." His voice trailed off as his mind wandered to a different place and time.

Suddenly, Robin understood. "But we're all still here." She reassuringly laid a hand on his, hoping the soft touch would allow him to recover from the depths of his mind.

He lifted his head almost instantly as he resurfaced into reality quicker than expected, something that had become frequently easier since he'd joined the crew. "This is true," he mused with a stretching smile. "Though you guys seem to be a lot smaller than I remember. Yohohoho~"

Brook's laughter shook his body and rattled his bones, interrupting the girl's slumber as she groggily opened her eyes. "Brook?" His name came out as a fussy whine as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Oh, Dorothy-san." Brook couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt as he watched the child rub her eyes irritably, a deep frown cut into the corners of her mouth. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

Dorothy made a small grunting noise of dissatisfaction as she finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, sluggishly directing her attention to the window as she took note of the swollen, luminescent clouds that lazily passed them by. "Why isn't the train moving?"

"Riptides," Robin cut in, "If we keep moving, the train will tip of the tracks and sink to the bottom of the ocean, most likely drowning all of us in the process."

Brook had to stifle a laugh as he watched the child's head droop before quickly jerking back up in a startled manner, completely unfazed by the woman's words as if what she had just said was typical (which in a way, such subjects were to Robin) and possibly not psychotic. "Oh, that's good," she smiled dreamily.

"Go back to sleep, Dorothy-san," Brook chuckled as he softly stroked her cheek.

The girl grabbed ahold of his lanky arm and crossed it over her chest like a makeshift blanket as she allowed her body to sink back into his Hawaiian shirt. "Brook," she began, but the rest seemed to fade as her eyelids closed and breathing steadied.

"What?" He had to lean his head in just so he could barely make out the girl's final words before she drifted.

"You're stuck with us."

He calmly lifted his head. Brook had various of ways of responding, but instead kept quiet as he allowed her words to ricochet off the inside of his skull and enveloped himself within her life, enjoying the gentle rising and falling of her chest against his arm, the familiar flutter in his breast, as if he were still alive and had a heart and lungs once more. But now that he thought about it, he was alive, for the people who had breathed the life back into him and pumped him with longing for every journey they embarked were more than enough proof of that. So there was life and he had to protect it.


End file.
